Media, Peace & Conflict in Sri LankaSanjana Hattotuwa

History of broadcasting in Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka has the oldest radio station in

Asia - Radio Ceylon.

• Experimental broadcasting was started in

1923 - 3 years after the inauguration of

broadcasting in Europe.

• 1925 broadcasting began

Statistics

Modes of Information in Sri Lanka

What media do you consume the most on a daily basis – television, radio or newspapers?

71.2

22.1

5.0 1.50

20

40

60

80

Television Radio Newspapers Word of mouth

%

What media do you consume the most on a daily basis – television, radio, newspapers? Gender breakdown

66.3%75.6%

23.3%

21.2%

8.7% 1.8%1.8% 1.2%

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Male Female

Word of mouth

Newspapers

Radio

Television

Media and conflict

Media and Conflict

• In most cases of long term conflict, media becomes part of the conflict and not part of the solution.

Media and Conflict

What a jackass !

We must have more balanced coverage

There is nothing wrong

with our editorial policy !

I feel left out…

What the hell is going

on?

Every single person here has

a different perspective

Why am I the only woman here?

Truth?

Security

Job security

Personal security

No training

No equipment

No insurance

No identification

Volatile ground situation

What are the problems you see with media?

Media and Conflict

• Lack of professionalism/ journalism training in State and Private media

• Most of the newsrooms in Sri Lanka are monolingual.

• Lack of diversity.

• No democracy in the newsroom.

Media and Conflict

• Polarization of newspapers on ethnic lines

• Self-censorship of Editors

• State owned media has been a political tool of the governing political party

• Lack of training / Existing training not up to industry demands

Media in Conflict Transformation

Framing and defining the

conflict

Encouraging a balance of

power

Identifying the interests underlying the issues Channel of

communication between

parties

Confidence-building

Counteracting misperceptio

ns

Face saving and

consensus-building

Analyzing the conflict

Media Roles in

Peacebuilding

Process Events

Process Events

1. Long term

2. Variable & changing

3. Different actors at different times

4. Difficult to imagine, especially as an advance project

5. Outbreaks of violent periods likely and undermine confidence in the process

6. Necessary to maintain the optimism and hope

1. Short-term

2. Episodic

3. Sensational - what bleeds leads

4. Difficult to contextualise / frame

5. Hard to understand the significance of one event

6. Are the foundation of the public’s perception of a peace process

Media as a shared space

1. Women need to be more visible at the higher decision-making levels

2. But not just a numbers game - real decision making power is hard to come by

3. Awareness-raising on gender - especially editorial and management levels

4. Give women agency & represent agency at all levels

5. Men & women need to be engaged, not just one sex

Engender media

Two (different) films

New Media

New Media / Citizens Media

“As media proliferate and as the world becomes the more volatile and unpredictable, the greater becomes the need to organise citizens’ media associations and to promote community based media which alone can serve as balancing factors to check the unhealthy dominance of State-media and corporate media.”

Javid Jabbar, Convenor, Citizens Media Commission, Pakistan

http://www.wiredet.com/cmd/files/studies.asp

What is New Media?

• Old Media – Single Producer

• New Media – Multiple Producers

• Old Media – National, Regional

• New Media – Local, Grassroots / “Glocal”

• Old Media – Journalists

• New Media – Citizen Journalists

http://www.jnw.lk

Mobile Phones & Citizen Journalism

How can New Media help professional standards?

• Accountability

• Audience feedback and debate

• Ethical reporting and standards

• Promotion of alternatives, including alternatives & revisions to old media frame

• Investigative journalism

www.youtube.com

www.flickr.com

http://radio.voicesofpeace.lk

http://www.groundviews.org

• 500+ (avg) individuals log on to the website on a daily basis (Pageviews)

• Around 15,000+ pageviews a month (avg)

• 77,360 pages viewed to date from around 29,000 unique readers

• 25+ original articles per month are uploaded to the website

• The split in local and international readership is 60/40

• 80+ subscribers to email update and its growing.

http://www.vikalpa.org

Growth of new media producers and users globallyGrowth of new media producers and users globally

Questions

• Can New Media work in Sri Lanka?

• How useful is New Media in changing the old media cultures?

• Can New Media help conflict sensitive journalism and peacebuilding?

Thank You